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A-Trak and Nick "Catchdubs" Barat, DJs and founders of Brooklyn record label Fool's Gold, talk to 99U about their 10 years in the music business as friends and partners, their new brick-and-mortar retail store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and why going out on a limb for something you love makes it all worth it – even if that thing never achieves critical acclaim.

The company's principal creative director on how the small-team model works inside a big company with such a global reach and why the team's ultimate goal is bona fide, possibly-quantifiable user love.

Design is a problem-solving exercise and for punk rocker-turned-product designer and entrepreneur Neil Grimmer the problem was his own overweight body. But instead of going to a doctor, he set out to rethink the food, weight-loss, and diet industries.

The Foundation Capital partner is at the head of a new generation of Silicon Valley VC’s who did not descend from the heights of finance, but rose through the ranks of design. And, he believes, we're entering the century of the designer-founder.

Over the last 10 years, Alex Center has experienced firsthand how the sheer size of a corporation like Coke impacts the design process — something he is able to contrast with his days at vitaminwater before its acquisition by the beverage giant.

So often we charge ahead in our careers with a single-minded focus on our pursuits. In this new series, we slow down and ask designers to reflect on their relationship to the craft. Here the Design Matters host explores what it means to her in a visual essay.